BlackWatch
by Geckoguy555
Summary: A conspiracy threatens the safety of the world, of course Ash and Co. can't help but stumble into the middle of a battlefield between a group of power-hungry revolutionists and a shadowy agency. Familiar faces and more abound in BlackWatch! Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

**Well, this'll be my first intentional multi-chapter story so let me know if it sucks…**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon… T-T**

"Will, can we please take a rest now?" Dawn whined.

"Yeah, we've been traveling for two days and two nights straight!" Ash added.

I sighed; I really didn't want to point out the fact that _I _was going on four days without sleep and food.

I wondered, for a moment what a bystander would think. A sixteen-year-old dressed in a black almost-skin-tight t-shirt with black cargo pants and long dark brown hair and carrying a black knapsack walking alongside a fifteen-year-old wearing a black vest with a yellow zigzag along the bottom with blue jeans and most noticeably a Pikachu riding shotgun on the boy's shoulder, next to messy hair covered by a baseball cap with a half Pokeball symbol on the front. That was Ash, and then Dawn was beside him, a twelve-year-old blunette who, despite her contempt for the word was still a rookie trainer and was on her first journey. Next to her was the oldest of us all, the nineteen-year-old Brock, he was heavily tanned and had squinty eyes that never seemed to open. I still hadn't asked him how he could see.

"Guys I wish we could but, we were in Canalave City we have to get to Hearthrome, right now we're close but we can't stop or we'll miss the Registration for Dawn's Contest and Ash's Gym Leader will have left for the Silver Conference." I replied. The small firelizard walking beside me moaned.

"But we're really hungry!" Ash whined.

And they think I'm not?

"If you have enough energy to keep complaining you obviously have enough energy to keep walking for fifteen minutes, at most!" I snapped.

I didn't mean to yell at Ash but I don't think he got the fact that my feet were almost bloody, I was about to keel over from hunger, and the backs of my eyes were throbbing, I knew the optic nerve that relayed everything my eyes saw to my brain was fried, in short, I was exhausted. The Pokeball hating Charmander that always walked with me wasn't doing any better.

The group kept walking in silence, Ash would mutter something to Pikachu, who would nod vigorously, Dawn kept one hand on her stomach and the other over her eyes, Brock would sigh occasionally but otherwise not much, I was glad, I was so tired that if anyone started to complain I'd go ballistic. Finally we saw lights of a city in the distance.

"Okay, we can keep going tonight and sleep in nice warm beds, or we can stop here and eat and sleep now. Which do you guys want?" I asked. As if on cue Ash and Dawn were unrolling their sleeping bags, Brock had magically gotten a huge pot of boiling water, and was tossing some spices into it, and Charmander and Pikachu were already curled into tight balls, several crumpled ketchup packets littered around them. Not sure how they got them.

Within ten minutes we were all eating bowls full of delicious, steaming ramen, for someone that hadn't eaten in as long as I had anything would be mouthwatering, but the broth was thick yet not overpoweringly so, a few vegetables floated around giving the appearance of islands in a dark sea. The noodles were equal to the broth in taste but had a tang to them that completed the already delectable dish. Soon we had all eaten our full and were about to fall asleep.

"Well, if we want to make it to the Contest I guess we should go to sleep." Dawn said yawning.

"Yeah, the Gym too." Ash agreed.

Brock was already asleep, and was about to start counting Mareeps.

XxxXXXxxxXXXxxx

Three hours later we had eaten, complained about lack of sleep and were mapping out the schedule one final time.

"First we register for Dawn's Contest, then we get a couple rooms at the Pokécenter, then we prep for Ash's battle. Sound good?"

"Yeah, let's head out." Ash said.

Soon we got the caravan back on the road and within the hour we were in Hearthrome City.

I swear Dawn's eyes looked like hearts and she started bouncing around everywhere.

"Wow! I've never been this far from home! I always saw this place on TV but its soooo much cooler in real life! Oh look at that shop, I wonder if they sell anything Buneary can wear! Oh look at that! Oh wow! Wow! Look over there!" And you get the idea right? Still I suppose she was kinda cute when she 'ohhh'ed and 'ahhhh'ed everything she saw. Charmander put my feelings into motion as he rolled his eyes and occasionally sweatdropped. The thing that stopped me cold however, was the sight of a certain brown-haired Coordinator and a small fox like Pokémon at her ankle.

"Hey Ash, do we know her from somewhere?" I asked pointing in her general direction.

"May!"

The girl turned, saw us and started to jog over.

"Ash? No way!"

"Why is it that _I_ get ignored when I'm twenty times more attention grabbing?" I asked grinning as I gestured towards my black clothing.

"Will, you too?"

"There you go. Hey Ash, now are you glad I drove you so hard?" I asked.

"Yeah, did you know she was here?" He asked me.

"Well honestly no, but in light of recent events, sure I knew May was here." I laughed.

"I can't believe it!" May said happily.

"Eevee!"

"Pika!"

"Char. Char Charmander."

"Is Max here too?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's either at the Pokemon Center or at the Shop." May replied.

"All right, I'm gonna go rent a few rooms okay?" I asked.

"Yeah sure."

I dashed off to the Pokémon Center.

"Yeah, you sure you don't mind?" A boy not as tall as me but getting close asked Nurse Joy.

"Oh, not at all." Nurse Joy replied smiling.

"Thanks."

"Hey. Would you mind renting me a room for four?" I asked.

The boy spun around so fast I thought he resembled a Hitmontop.

"Will?"

"Would anyone else be wearing all black on a day like this?" I asked.

"Well Leon does, but he also has gray eyes." He replied.

"Oh yeah, you're Max." I grinned

"Kinda obvious."

"Whatever…it's good to see you again, you've grown…a lot."

"Thanks, I'll show you my Pokemon later, now I've got to find my love-struck sister." Max laughed.

"Last I checked they were near the Contest Hall, I'm still ready to pass out so I'm gonna catch some Z's before everyone gets here. If any rooms are available." I said yawning.

"Oh yes, a room for four correct?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Well it depends, Max; you wanna share a room with Ash, Brock, and me?" I asked.

"Yeah, I need to talk to Ash anyway."

I paid for the room, was handed a key, and walked down the hallway.

"07, 08, ah 09." I said to no one in particular as I opened the door, tossed the keys on the dresser, and took of my shirt. As I walked over to one of the twin size beds I thought about what Max had said, 'Love-struck sister' eh? Sounds like someone in our midst realized her feelings. I grinned as I fell onto the bed, pretty soon Ash was gonna find out life isn't all about Pokémon.

**And that's the first chapter; I hope it kept your interest. I intend to update at least once a week but no promises.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do NOT own Pokémon **

**Okay, this is the chapter that's turn a lot of people away from the story… having said that, I'm not quite sure why….but it will. Oh and feel free to PM me any questions, I'll answer them as long as they do not spoil any future chapters. This is NOT my best work, but I felt that I had to stick to the update schedule I stated in the first chapter, so here you go.**

The ringing of my Pokenav woke me.

"Yeah?" I asked into the phone.

"Can you unlock the door?" it was Dawn.

"Yeah, hold up." I said climbing out of the soft bed, yanking a shirt over my head, grabbed the key from the dresser and opening the door.

"Well I just stopped by to ask if you wanted me to register you in the Contest?" I grabbed a towel.

"Eh, why not? Thanks. I'm gonna go take a shower now, by the way what time is it?" I asked.

"Uh, almost noon." She replied.

"Thanks I'll meet you at the café in about ten minutes 'k?" I said.

"Sure." Dawn said

"By the way you might want to register Ash as well."

"Okay, I'll go register all of us then." Dawn replied as I headed toward the showers.

Ten minutes later I walked into a café full of people, Pokemon, and of course the occasional robot.

"So, Will have you caught any new Pokemon?" May asked as I sat down.

"Yep, I now have another Eevee." I replied as I released a small brown fox onto the table.

"A Treeko," The fox Pokemon changed form into a small lizard with two tails.

"A Magikarp," Again the Pokemon changed into a different form.

"And just about anything else you can think of." I said grinning.

"You caught a Ditto?" Max asked.

"Not quite." I replied still smiling.

"But the only other Pokemon I can think of that can transform like that is-"

"Shut it, I'll tell you later." I cut in.

The reason I didn't want it to get out that I had a Mew was because Team Rocket, Team Galactic, and the ever elusive, Hunter J, in short all of the most notorious (Though in Team Rocket's case stupidest,) thieves I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. After another gourmet meal we all went back to the Pokemon Center to catch up.

"Will, is that a Mew?" Max asked right off the bat.

So much for catching up.

"Yeah, I caught it while I was near the Ilex Forrest, I think it had something to do with the Legend of Celebi, I think there's more than one Mew in the world, even with Teleport there can't be two reports of a Mew on different sides of the world." I said looking at the pink floating furball that was my companion.

"Have you tried asking it?" Max asked.

"Yeah, but each time it just shuts down, won't say anything for a while." I replied.

"Why?" May asked.

"I don't have a clue, the only theory I've come up with is that there's not just one of every Legendary Pokemon, you guys know about the two Deoxys, but the Ho-oh that Ash saw the first day of his journey, was also spotted over Sinnoh, just an hour later, the timing is impossible for there to be only one, the Lugia that you and Misty saved had a child remember Ash? That's not all, Kyogre the one that guarded Pokelantis, was also near the Whirl Islands a day before, no Pokémon can travel that quickly by sea alone, implying two, Groudon, one confirmed in Mt. Silver, one somewhere in Hoenn, Latias and Latios, have migration patterns from Hoenn to Kanto. And that's only the Hoenn and some Johto." I explained.

"How do you know all this?" Brock asked.

"I did a ton of research after I caught this little guy, in Oak's lab, Rowan's, Elm's, Birch's, have you ever noticed that the Professors all are named after trees?" I asked as I stroked Mew.

"Yeah, but I find it best not to ask." May replied laughing.

"Some day, I'll figure it out, but until then, I suppose I'll just keep earning Badges." I said.

"Figure out what, the names or the Legends?" Max asked.

"Both, I guess." I replied.

"You'll have to race against Gary, and Professor Oak." Ash said.

"Well, in the meantime, Max why don't you show us your Pokemon?" I suggested.

"Sure, come on out guys!" Max replied as he tossed five Pokeballs into the air.

After a flash of light we stood facing a Riolu, Kirlia, Treeko, Starly, and Proygon2.

"Wow, those are some relatively rare Pokemon, save for the Starly of course." I said then dodged a Fury Attack.

"Sorry, Sorry. So are we gonna practice for the Contest or what?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah…" Dawn trailed off.

"I didn't know you we're entering, Will." May said.

"Well I already have the Gym Leader's Badge so I guess I'll participate." I replied.

"Well I don't have much of a choice." Ash added sending a playful glare my way.

"Yay! This is gonna be so much fun!" Dawn squealed.

I raised an eyebrow.

"What? A girl can't get excited?" She asked.

"Whatever, there's a pond nearby and I feel like going for a swi- I mean practicing some techniques of course." I said grinning.

Suddenly everyone wanted to come.

**Well 3 pages in word…a lot was cut from the original, I can't believe this used to be a 6-page chapter… anyway if you actually read this; you get a giant chocolate-chip cookie. ^-^ **


	3. Chapter 3

The third chapter…wow… moving right along, the story gets into more humor and less actual plot, just wasting time until the Contest.

The forest was flourishing and youthful, the pond was, well, wet of course and tranquil, there were a few bird Pokemon who chirped fitfully and dive-bombed unsuspecting Wurmple. Hmm. I didn't think I knew that many descriptive words. Anyway it was the perfect backdrop for training.

"Dragonite, use Thunder Wave, then Zap Cannon, and finish with Wing Attack." I said calmly.

Dragonite first sent an electrical current through the air, then put a sphere of electricity into the center of the small cage, and finished by blowing it gracefully skyward with the wind from its wings.

"Now shoot it with a Flamethrower." I said.

Dragonite replied in kind and the sphere exploded with a beautiful combination of red, yellow, and black.

"Wow!" Dawn said.

"That was great!" May said.

"Pikachu, use Double Team, then Thunderbolt!" Ash said looking at me.

The rodent created several illusionary copies of itself forming a circle, and then each sent a Thunderbolt hurtling towards each other, the orb of electricity in the center grew larger and larger.

"Now hit it with an Iron Tail!"

Again Pikachu obeyed and bounced the orb off its now silver tail, after it ricocheted of several trees Ash ordered it to use Thunder while it was in the middle of the field. The result? Electricity sped outwards in all directions but hit no one.

"Nice one Ash!" May said.

"I didn't think Ash could pull something like that off!" Dawn said.

"Our turn. Dragonite, start of with Twister, then use Dragon Rage, combine that with Thunder Wave." I said.

Dragonite soon whipped up a whirlwind of electricity and fire, the air crackled and simmered as the two great elements battled for supremacy inside of the miniature tornado.

"Now use Safeguard," I said calmly.

Within seconds the area surrounding the swirling mass of power and heat was covered as if by a veil, granting protection to all within.

"Now use Hyper Beam." I said.

The electric/fire gust exploded, bouncing off the force field, creating an unnerving feel of power, and mastery over the chaos bound by unseen walls.

"I've never seen anything like that."

"Me neither, he's gonna be tough to beat." May and Dawn whispered to each other.

"I can't top that." Ash admitted.

"It's okay, I guess I'll always be the better man." I laughed.

"Whatever, first one to that hill wins." Ash said pointing to a hill about a hundred yards away.

"Ready, set, go!" May shouted.

I took off like a shot, Ash right behind me, by the time we were half way there, I slowed down a bit and Ash was only just keeping up, Pikachu on the other hand had already won the race and was pointing at something and hopping up and down excitedly.

"What's his problem?" I asked.

"Dunno." Ash replied.

Soon we both saw the object that had piqued Pikachu's interest: a hive full of golden honey. Then Ash did the stupidest thing I ever saw, and I've seen some really stupid stuff, stupider than most people have seen, anyway back to Ash's stupidity; he told Pikachu to use Thunderbolt on the hive. The now charred hive fell from the tree and landed at our feet.

"I'd hit you, but I really don't see the point anymore." I said to my long-time friend.

"Why?"

As if on cue, one very angry Beedrill appeared from the downed hive, flanked by several hundred Combee and one particularly annoyed Vespiqueen.

"That answer your incredibly stupid question?" I asked.

"Sums it up pretty good." Ash replied nodding as we turned, and started to sprint down the hill and back towards the clearing.

"Ash, why on earth would you do that?" I shouted as we ran.

"How was I supposed to know?" Ash asked.

"Never mind, everyone get in the pond!" I shouted

And of course they started running towards us. I sighed, if I ever recovered from all the stings I was about to get, I'd kill Ash myself and save everyone the trouble. The stinging Bug Pokemon were hot on our heels, as we shouted for our friends to get in the pond, and either they heard us, or they saw the horde that was pursuing us, either way, they all dove into the pond. Soon I jumped in the freezing water and heard a splash nearby, confirming that Ash was under the surface. I felt a hand push something into mine, the thing turned out to be a hollow reed; I gratefully sucked in the air through my tiny snorkel then passed one to Ash.

After a half hour of silence I finally poked my head above the surface, the Pokemon were gone, and night had fallen, tapping my companions we all sloshed out of the pond and dripped back to the Pokemon Center.

Thirty minutes later and we all were clean, mostly dry, and our teeth had stopped chattering, as we all sat in the room that Brock, Ash, and I had rented.

"Ash, tell me, why did you make that little electric rat Thunderbolt a hive of stinging Pokemon?" I asked only to receive a not-so-gentle Thundershock

"I thought the hive was empty." Ash replied sheepishly.

"Well, you were wrong." May said giggling.

"Sorry, not like any of you made worse mistakes…" Ash grumbled.

We all thought back,

"No, I never did anything that stupid."

"Me neither."

"Nope."

"Not even when I was in Johto."

"Sorry, not me."

We all laughed. Soon Charmander pulled a customary self-release, and as usual, landed on my head.

"Charmander! I thought I told you not to do that!" I said.

"Charmander…" (But I like it…)

"I don't care!"

Almost no parts from the original were deleted from this particular chapter, which for me is a first, also a lot shorter than previous chapters… go figure.


	4. Chapter 4

Yes! I'm not dead! The explanation will be at the bottom Well I'm going to try out third person, don't blame me if it sucks…blame my computer… it hates me. Do me a favor, if you hate it, send me a PM saying 'Don't you ever make me read _ANYTHING_ you write in third person ever again! MY EYES I THINK THEY'RE MELTING!!!'

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon

"Hey guys, why don't we let our Pokemon hang out for a bit?" May asked as she released her Eevee.

"Yeah good idea." Max said, tossing a Pokeball and releasing Proygon2

The rest of the group agreed and soon they each had a few Pokemon out to stretch their legs.

"Hey Eevee." Charmander said.

"Hi."

'I still think Pikachu's pretty cute, he's worse than his Trainer though… but then again I haven't dropped that many hints. Oh man…why did I fall for him, of all Pokemon, anyone would be lucky to have Charmander, or Charmander's Trainer's Eevee. But we're just friends, more brother/sister-like than lovers. I don't think Pikachu even notices me.'

"Yoo-hoo? Anyone there?" Charmander asked waving his claw (paw, hand? I honestly have no idea?) in front of Eevee's face.

"Huh?"

"Daydreaming about a certain electric rat?" Charmander asked grinning.

"He's not that bad, and why do you and your Trainer always call him that?" Eevee asked.

"It's more of a pet name. We like him, not the way you obviously do but we like him. He and I have at least one thing in common; we both hate Pokeballs."

"You don't like Pokeballs?"

"Nope, first one my Trainer put me in I burned then I burned him. Second one, I burned again. Third one I threw in a lake. Then he tried to keep me in an Ultra Ball, I hid that one in a tree, kept me busy for a while though." Charmander listed.

"You wasted 1800pkmn of your Trainer's money?" Eevee asked. She always was a math wiz.

"And proud of it." Charmander responded.

"Wow." Eevee said grinning.

"Anyway back to the subject at hand, uh… in your case paw. You like Pikachu and he doesn't realize your feelings?" Charmander asked.

"Pretty much." Eevee replied embarrassedly.

"Well should I go tell him to get his tail out from between his ears and wise up to what one particular Pokemon is hinting at?" Charmander asked.

"No! If you tell anyone, I might inform a certain Pokemon of your feelings." Eevee threatened.

"Normally I'd be afraid, but I'm not in love with anyone." Charmander replied smirking.

"Buneary." The fox Pokemon said in a singsong voice.

It was Eevee's turn to smirk as Charmander's scales(?) turned a slightly darker shade of red.

"I hate you." Charmander muttered.

"What was that?" Eevee asked.

"I said 'the sky's far up and blue.'" The firelizard replied grinning.

"Yeah right."

"I cannot tell a lie." Charmander said.

"Do you have any advice?"

"Other than just ask him out? No."

"Okay, I'll ask him out. Right now. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna ask him out. Right now." Eevee said and was about to take a step when, "Waahhhh! I can't do it! Help me Charmander!"

The firelizard in question simply grinned.

"Wow, I really can't believe you just did that." He said.

"Well you weren't any help." She replied.

"Fine, I'll do it for you."

"Huh?" But before Eevee could argue he was gone.

"Hey Pikachu, get your electrified tail over here!" Charmander called as he walked toward the small mouse.

"What's up?" Pikachu asked.

"I need to ask you a question."

"Yeah?"

"Follow me." Charmander said simply.

"Uh, were are we going? I was teaching Proygon2 a couple strategies."

"Pikachu, life's not always about battles." Charmander replied.

"It's…not?"

"Pikachu, have you noticed Eevee's behavior recently?"

"What? Does she need help learning a move or something?" Pikachu asked.

"No! She needs help _making _a move!" Charmander said.

"Well how can I help?" Pikachu asked.

"Oh that's it! Eevee!" Charmander said getting annoyed.

"Yeah?"

"Fess up."

"What?"

"Um…Pikachu, you know how we've been traveling together, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I kind of have feelings towards you."

"What?"

"I like you as more than a friend!" Eevee said.

"Oh, well that's good. I always thought of you as a best friend too." Pikachu said confusedly.

"Oh, you have _got _to be kidding me." Charmander said sweatdropping.

"Pikachu…" Eevee moaned as he walked back to Proygon2.

"Well that didn't help any." Charmander said.

"No kidding."

Yeah…I have a bad feeling about this chapter… that's kinda depressing especially after editing this almost four times with little success, back to first person next chapter. Anyways I finally got my gecko-ey paws on a really old copy of Excel, 2000 I think? But yeah, it works!


	5. Chapter 5

**Well… it's **_**technically**_** been a week since the last update… kinda. Keep in mind that I'm normally asleep at 2:10 am so I can try and wake up early. Actually that's a bit of a lie, I'm kinda nocturnal… lol.**

**DISCLAIMER: I AS USUAL DO NOT OWN POKéMON**__

As I watched my Pokemon play with each other my Pokenav rang, checking the ID I sighed, of course it was gonna be _them._ I always did hate _this_ part. Opening the Pokenav, expecting the usual emotionless tone, I was surprised to hear a frantic, worried one.

"Contara?"

"Speaking."

"Birch has been killed!"

"Are you serious?" I asked the quaver in my voice obvious. Ash heard it, then crossed over to me.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing Ash, uh, private call, I'll be right back. Kadabra!"

As the Psychic type walked over to me I exited the room.

"Birch was killed? Where, and how?" I asked hurriedly into the receiver.

"Apparently his Swellow 'crashed' into Mt. Silver."

"He's confirmed dead?" I asked now sprinting down the corridor.

"First responders said he wasn't breathing."

"Great. Look I'm with Ketchum, both Maples, and Berlitz."

"Just hurry and get back here, we sent Leon to keep your place."

"Got it."

I skidded to a stop in front of Nurse Joy, "Um, Nurse Joy, Please keep these rooms for as long as Ash Ketchum, Max, and May Maple, Brock Slate, and Dawn Berlitz stay in them, a friend of mine's coming, name's Leon, I'll pay for the rooms." I said as I handed her my ID and started to sprint towards the doors.

"Sir, you left your identification." Joy called after me.

"Give it to Leon, he'll get it back to me!" I shouted over my shoulder.

"Kadabra, Teleport!"

Within a split second I was outside of a semi-circular dome built into the side of a mountain and cleverly disguised by well cared for trees and other natural wild life.

"Contara William, Pallet." I said to one of the guards standing in front of the entrance to the complex.

"First Pokémon?" He asked as the Machoke that flanked him flexed their muscles.

"Charmander, from Professor Oak." I replied as the second guard patted me down.

"Come in, Command isn't too thrilled." He said after pressing a finger to his left ear.

"No surprise."

I walked into a dark room, full of people and Pokemon. Among the members, I recognized Solidad…uh something and Gary Oak.

"Hey, Leon just left." Gary said to me as I sat next to him and Solidad.

"Good, I timed it just right then, any news on Birch?" I asked.

"None yet." Solidad said grimly.

I tried to think of something to say but couldn't. For the next hour and a half we sat in silence, as other operatives walked in.

"Attention!"

We all stood as three of the leaders from BlackWatch entered.

"At ease. We have called this meeting for obvious reasons; one of the Chosen Ones has been compromised, as such we can only assume that he has passed. This is a great tragedy, not only have we lost contact with one of the Legendary Pokemon, but also a good man. Brendan Birch was, as you all know acquainted with the Legendary Pokemon Groudon, now with his apparent passing, we can no longer contact Groudon. For now you are to act as if nothing has changed, stay casual but keep aware. Dismiss. There was the usual shuffling about and orders given, for the next half hour I moved around collaborating with the other 'babysitters.

"Kadabra, take us back."

In a flash of light we were teleported from a base thousands of miles away from my starting point all the way to the entrance of the Pokemon Center in Hearthrome City.

**And there you have it, a very short chapter. By the way guys, I'm not one to beg for reviews or anything but c'mon; five chapters, hundreds of visitors, and one review (Thanks **sexyalexisrhodesluva **!) … It's kinda depressing. **


	6. Chapter 6

I kinda rushed this chapter, although there is some major plot development here I may have worded some of it badly. PM me if you have questions, I'll answer as best I can without giving away the rest of the plot.

"Will? Where'd you go, you were gone for two hours! We were really worried, then Leon showed up." Dawn asked grabbing onto me in a tight hug.

"Uh, I went for a walk and lost track of time." I said lamely, looking first to Leon who was leaning against the doorframe.

"What's wrong? And why's Leon here?" Ash asked.

"I invited him to enter the Contest with us." I lied.

"I got here after Registration ended, I'll be up in the stands." Leon added immediately catching on.

"Well either way, let's just rest up for the Contest." May suggested as she picked up her Eevee and walked across the hall to the room she shared with Dawn.

"Ash, I kinda need to talk to you." Max said.

"Sure, what's up buddy?" Ash asked as Pikachu leaped onto his shoulder.

I could tell Max was embarrassed, so I helped out a bit.

"Lets go into the waiting room, I'll keep it mum." I said crossing my heart.

"Thanks Will, you were bound to find out sooner or later." Max replied gratefully as we walked out of the room.

"So what'd you want to tell me?" Ash asked.

"Well, how to put this… May's completely head over heels for you." Max said bluntly.

"W-What do you mean?" Ash asked his face turning an immediate crimson.

"Did no one explain the concept of the 'Pidgys and the Beedrills to you?" I asked, if no one did it wasn't gonna be me, I'd do a lot for Ash, but friendship has it's boundaries.

"No, I mean I get that but love? She's only ten!"

"Uh, Ash, she's thirteen turning fourteen in five days." I replied.

"How'd you know?" Max asked.

"It was plastered all over _Hoen Today_, last year I couldn't escape it." I said.

"Either way I want you to know that if you do _anything_ funny, I'll tear you limb from limb." Max said.

"And when he can't do it, I'll kick your sorry a- 'butt' half way to Kanto, then I'll let your mom fish you out of the ocean, then I'll tell her about whatever you did, then I'll record it when she beats you like a piñata." I said grinning.

"I'll keep that in mind." Ash mumbled.

"Do."

"The real question is; how do you feel about my sister?" Max asked foot tapping.

"Well, she's a nice girl, uh, very pretty, very smart, determined, good with Pokemon."

"Dude, those are all cliché, try something from this." I said as I tossed Ash a pocket –sized copy of _Love Poems_. Ash and Max both looked at me, even Pikachu had stopped sucking on the packet of ketchup that he had grabbed out of seemingly nowhere.

"What?"

"You're a poet too?" Ash asked.

"No… that's a collection of romantic poetry." I replied.

"Why do you keep it on you?" Max asked.

"You'd be surprised at what a book of poems can get you out of. Point of the matter is that if Ash can draw inspiration from that, he can figure out something to say to May." I said.

After that discussion we all decided to go to bed in preparation for tomorrow. I sighed as I literally fell into my bed, thought through the day and fell asleep at the part where we took one step away from the campsite.

And there you have it, or don't more questions were asked than answered or were they? R&R


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry the chapter's so late… I honestly lost my motivation and train of thought to finish this… Anyway here's chapter seven and honestly I'm not exactly thrilled with it. But whatever. It's here now so enjoy it.

"William Contara!" May shouted waking me from my peaceful slumber… along with half of the Poké Center.

"Yeah?" I asked poking my head into the hallway.

The first thing I noticed was that she was extremely red in the face, the second was the lump of what appeared to be rags with a familiar hat, propped up against the opposing wall.

"How dare you?" She asked her voice steely.

"I'm pretty daring… what'd I do?" I asked.

"Ash just asked me about the 'Pidgys and the Beedrills.'" May said fuming.

Great. Just. Great.

"Uh, hold up, MAX!" I called over my shoulder.

"Huh?" The boy asked groggily _just now _waking up.

"Help me." I mouthed.

"I can't believe you let him do that, then he spouted off with some sort of poem."

I thought it was bad over in Kanto, now I was beginning to wonder if I should go back.

"Okay, hold up minute, has anyone died within the past twenty-four hours? Do I need to inform Ash's mom that her son fell of a mountain or something?" I asked quickly while I held my open hands in front of my face as if they would shield me from a girl possessed.

"No, but I still blame you!" May replied her face red as a Cheri berry, at this point I couldn't tell if she was blushing, or just outright livid. For some reason I almost laughed at the thought of May, who came up to my shoulder being so terrifyingly angry that I felt like crawling under a rock.

"Why do you hold me responsible?" I asked.

"'Cause you're the only responsible one in this group!"

"Max are you responsible?"

"Nope."

"C'mon… someone throw me a bone here." I muttered as I prepared myself for the beating that was almost ensured.

"May…" I glanced up as I saw Ash albeit looking worse for wear hand on May's shoulder as he tried to calm her.

I was tempted to sneak away while the sneaking was good but I knew that I'd only be targeted later.

It'd be worth it. I cautiously slipped around the corner and grabbed a cup from the stand next to a row of chairs in the waiting room and filled it with hot, fresh, coffee.

As I took a sip I wondered just how long I could avoid telling Ash about 'the Pidgys and the Beedrills.' Then I wondered just how depressed he was when he saw the sign saying that the Gym Leader was no longer taking challengers in preparation for the Silver Conference. According to Dawn he was gloomy the entire way to the café. Finally I thought about just what May would do to get even with me. Not that I did anything wrong.

"What did I do to deserve this?" I asked as I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Within thirty minutes we had all eaten, showered, and given a final pep talk to our Pokemon. I heard snippets of "Now look Eevee, don't get distracted." And "All right, this is it Buneary." And the occasional "Turtwig! Stop biting my head!" Chuckling to myself I turned towards my Dragonite, Charmander, Eevee, and Grovyle.

"Okay guys, do your best and look pretty." I said grinning.

"Drag!"

"Char!"

"Gro!"

"Eve!"

While we walked toward the Coliseum May stroked Eevee's fur with a special brush one last time, Dawn tied the bow on her Buneary's ear to the point that the ear was turning purple, Ash was adjusting the cape on Pikachu, and me? I was

busy bribing Charmander to wear the tux and top hat I had just bought.

"Look, I can get you as much hot sauce as you want, I'm the one with the wallet here, see?" I asked reaching for my back pocket, only to feel thin air. Charmander waved the wallet in my face and cackled evilly.

"Charmander, give me the wallet." I said calmly. And so started a game of keep away.

"Grovyle! Ah, Dragonite give me that! Charmander you little rat! Gotcha Eevee!" I cried triumphantly as I tackled the small fox Pokemon playfully and snatched my wallet away.

After that fiasco we entered the Contest Hall and took our places in the waiting room.

After a few minutes and some shoving of rabid fans I was beginning to think things might go well when the green haired Co-ordinater we all knew and hated sauntered into the off-stage waiting room.

"Well, well, if it isn't little Maysy." He teased.

"Shut up Drew." May snapped.

"Ohh…a little nervous are we? Well don't be, I can tell you the results right now, first place goes to me, second goes to Harley, and last? That honor is strictly reserved for you." Drew smirked.

"I don't remember May asking your opinion." I said coldly.

"And who are you? Her boyfriend?" Drew asked rudely.

"Will, now I suggest you leave May to her own thoughts." I replied.

"And why should I do as you say?" Drew asked angrily.

"You don't have to, after all it's just a suggestion." Ash said as he stood next to me.

"Humph, catch you losers later." Drew replied flicking his hair and slinking away.

As I sat down next to May and across from Ash, I could hear snippets of muttering from both, ranging from 'The nerve of him.' to 'I hope he runs into Will in the first round.' and even 'Maybe a bus will fall from the sky and land on him.' I smiled as I thought up strategies for beating Drew and anyone else who got in May's way, ultimately I intended to forfeit to her and let her have the ribbon for a second shot at the Wallace Cup. After all what would a fancy ribbon help me with? It would be a great early birthday gift to May, then I'd have to help Ash find his gift, if I could get him to stop staring at May for five minutes…Wait. Ash was blushing as he stared at May, who was to enthralled in her dreams of watching Drew get crushed buy a flying bus to realize. If only I had a camera. I sat straighter as I heard a ding, and, "William Contara to the Appeal stage."

"Let's go." I said to Charmander and Eevee's Pokeball.

"Char."

I blinked through the dazzling lights as I walked onto the stage.

**By the way… the next chapter isn't going to come until the story has at least 7 (Seven) different Reviews. Yeah, it's mean. And please tell me what you (dis)like about the story, I might be able to improve it. That's all…R&R**


	8. Chapter 8

It's official. I can't sleep. While I suffer from insomnia you guys can have the next chapter.

**To the ****anonymous**** Reviewers;**

**Slap: Sorry! Although I am glad you like it a story that doesn't make sense is just as bad as one that's completely terrible. Please PM me if you need anything explained. I would be more than happy to offer any explanation.**

**Pinkpanda8: You and me both lol! Something to keep in mind for the next story, right? **

The crowd was screaming at the top of their lungs, I heard insults and encouragement, I blocked them all out, eventually they must have fallen silent because I saw the clock drop from three minutes to two minutes and fifty nine seconds.

"Let's go." I repeated to the Greatball that contained Eevee and the Pokeball I had finally convinced Charmander to get in. I held both out to the stadium and pressed the circular center button. Charmander appeared in an inferno of white light and smoke, while Eevee was covered in pink and blue flowers. The audience giggled and pointed at Charmander who was dressed up in a tuxedo, top hat, and leaning nonchalantly on his black and white cane, Eevee however jumped up sending the flowers in all directions before Charmander used a Flame Wheel incinerating the outer petals in a circular fashion, while Eevee launched a Shadow Ball straight up the middle of the small tornado of flowers, before using Ice Beam on Charmander's Flame Wheel and freezing the petals, fire, and even air particles in the ice. There were thin pieces of frost connecting the non-frozen flowers to form lines finer than Spiniarak silk, and when looking at the entire scene formed a dream catcher-like pattern. As the audience 'ohh'ed and 'ahh'ed the clock counted one minute left.

_Better make this last minute count._

At that instant Charmander and Eevee chose to act, using the flash-frozen flames as a ramp the pair both dashed up to the center of the dream catcher. Next Charmander started to use Scratch on one part of the pillar, while Eevee copied his motions on the other side. Finally both sides were razor thin when the small fox Pokemon and the Firelizard hopped down opposite sides and went to center stage.

_Thirty seconds left…_

For the finale Eevee charged up an immense Shadow Ball, when the Shadow Ball was complete Charmander let loose a torrent of flames, the Shadow Fire collided with the dream catcher sending ashes and shards flying across the stadium and into the wall creating an outline of---

"Dawn?" I muttered as I saw the face now etched into the wall and felt my face heat up slightly. The crowd behind me started to giggle and point as they had done before when Charmander was released. I knew better than to question my Pokemon, since that would make me loose points…never the less I made a mental note to never buy Charmander hot sauce ever again. I recalled my Pokemon and left the stage. As I headed to the waiting room I received a few flirtatious winks but ignored them, as I sat down next to Ash and across from Dawn who was beet-red. May stood and walked up to the stage.

"Well, I thought that performance was…interesting." Ash said slowly.

"It was supposed to be an outline of Lugia." I said simply.

"Then why was it me?" Dawn asked.

"That's the million dollar question." I replied. In truth I knew I felt a minute attraction to Dawn, but I didn't think my Pokemon would pick up on it. Or let it distract them while they were doing something. Obviously I was wrong.

"Pika! Pikachu! Pi Pikachu Kachu!" Pikachu said while retaining his usual perch on Ash's shoulder.

"Uh…yeah?" I asked trying to understand the rodent.

"I'll ask him later." Ash replied to the rodent.

"Well, have you thought about you and May recently?" I asked to change the subject. I succeeded, but not by much.

"Uh…n-no. Wh-Why would I thi-think about h-her?" Ash asked stammering.

"Okay, face it; you have the hotts for May, and to be quite honest I don't know why you're waiting on telling her, since you already know she likes you back." Dawn said. Quite bluntly I might add, I raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"What is something on my face?" Dawn asked again. I said nothing, only keeping an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, okay, okay, I interrogated Max after you guys came back." Dawn said exasperatedly.

"Now _that_ I believe." I said feeling a smirk working its way onto my face. Dawn glared at me.

"Uh, problem at hand?" Ash asked.

"Her birthday's coming up." I said.

"So what do I get her?" Ash asked. Dawn and I groaned.

"Dawn'll show you." I said flatly.

"Wha? Why me?" Dawn asked quickly.

"You're a girl, you know what girls like, therefore it makes much more sense for you to go shopping with him." I replied.

"Fine…what're you getting her?" Dawn asked seemingly quite depressed at the turn of events.

"Pokégear and this town's Ribbon, I'm gonna forfeit to her in the final round." I said shrugging.

"Okay, I'll lose to you or Ash…but you owe me a new wardrobe." Dawn said plastering an innocent look on her face.

"Sure. If I ever get some spare cash." I replied.

**Here it is, next chapter at 15 Reviews. God I feel like a dictator… while I try to sleep (It's almost 3:00 am/ in the morning/ whenever-you-should-be-asleep here) Hope you liked it! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Yeah I know I said 15 reviews… but I'm being nice. Enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, anything aside from Will Contara and Leon. **

**Note: This is just an edit, there was a major screw-up in the dialogue that I didn't catch until I was reading the finished product. **

I watched as May threw two of her Pokeballs, releasing her own Eevee and Beautifly, the rest was lost upon my eyes. I tilted my head back and thought about what Ash could get May, nothing more appropriate than a kiss surely, but I wasn't sure _that_ would go over big with either of their parents. That and if I really _was_ the only responsible one in the group it'd probably look bad on me. Either way, I could tell that Ash had fallen head-over-heels for May.

"After the Appeals, Dawn's taking you shopping, we'll stop by the Pokemon Center first though, and I've got a gift for all of you." I said.

"Okay!" Dawn said grinning at the thought of a shopping spree.

"Sure…" Ash trailed off as he watched May.

Soon May's apparently fantastic appeal was through and Ash was called.

As soon as Ash left and May sat down Dawn said, "So how are we going to get you two together?"

"Eh, w-what're you t-talking about?" May asked nervously as her face darkened.

"I think you know." Dawn smirked.

"N-no, I don't." May replied as the blush spread to her neck.

"May. You saying that you don't have at least a crush on Ash is like saying an Onix can fly." Dawn sighed.

"Fine, i-if you're th-that sure…"

"Good! Now you know there's a dance after the Contest, right?"

"Dance? No one told me anything about a dance. I'm not going." I said.

"Yeah, you are. And besides, I need a date." Dawn said rolling her eyes.

"I don't have a suit."

"It's semi-formal." A random Coordinator cut in.

"I can't believe this…" I muttered.

"Believe it." Dawn replied grinning.

"I don't get what's so special about Ash, I mean yeah, he's kind and decent but I don't see whatever it is you see in him." I said simply.

"Well, when I left for Johto, it was more because I had a tiny crush on Drew…but he turned out to be just what he seemed; a self absorbed jerk! I remembered all the times that Ash would comfort me when I was scared or depressed, how he blamed himself when _I_ lost a Contest, how no matter what he always had my back, through tick and thin, and how he was such a good friend, he never flirted with me, never tried anything he'd be ashamed to tell his mom about, nothing bad, never, and Drew was a jerk and, a ladies' man."

I raised an eyebrow at this.

"Yeah he is." May said simply.

"Yeah, Ash was always kind to me too." Dawn said.

After some small talk and an hour-and-a-half of waiting the Appeals were done and the competitors were shown on the screens in the waiting room. A kid with large glasses and a ton of freckles came in first; I came in second, with May behind me, a few other opponents behind her with Dawn and Ash ranking sixth and seventh respectively. I smirked inwardly as I saw that Drew had only just made the cut.

"C'mon, time to go." I said as I walked out of the Contest Hall.

As we walked May and Dawn held a whispered conversation while

Soon we were walking into the Pokemon Center, seeing Leon I walked over to him.

"Hey."

"I've set Brock to work making a cake, Gold, Silver, Red, and Yellow are out buying gifts for May." He muttered.

"Commander Wes's platoon is here?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'd better start making an After-Action Report." I sighed.

"That'd probably be a good idea." Wes said as he strode up to me.

"Sir." I said saluting.

"At ease."

"Hey! Over here!" I called as I gestured the gang over.

"Okay, here are your new Pokenavs, Ash you have the Pikachu, Dawn, you have Piplup, May you get the Torchic, Leon's and my number are already programmed into them, don't delete them, if you do you'll never get the numbers again. You can choose the screensaver and ring tones and whatever else you want." I said as I handed the trio their new phone/map/Ribbon checker/anything else they would need. We were in the Pokemon Center and I had grabbed their new presents.

"Cool!" Ash cried waving his in the air.

"Thanks Will…how'd you get these?" Dawn asked.

"It pays to have people owe you favors." I smirked as I hooked my thumbs into my belt loops.

"Okay… now, let's get to the mall." Dawn said, happily.

"Onward!" Ash cried dramatically.

"To the mall…" I said trying to sound enthusiastic.

Ash, Dawn, and I all began to walk towards the department store, while May jogged off down the hall. After about a hundred yards I took another step and…

_WHUMP!_ I fell into a pitfall trap, landing hard on my back, before I could catch my breath I felt Dawn's eighty-five pound frame land on top of me, the impact caused me to gasp, then I felt Ash's one-hundred-and ten pound body land on Dawn, now normally I could have lifted both of them, but I couldn't even move while I was flat on my back. I rolled my eyes as I somehow managed to get my arm free and shove a dazed Ash off of Dawn and slipped out from under both of them.

"Now who could have possibly dug a hole in the middle of a city street?" I asked sarcastically.

"Prepare for trouble!" A female voice called out.

"And make it double!" A slightly more masculine voice sang.

"And let me guess you want to steal Pikachu right?" I asked interrupting the trademark motto.

"HEY, WE WEREN'T EVEN DONE YET!" A woman shrieked her flaming red hair pulled back in an outrageously long Ponytatail.

"YEAH WEREN'T YOU BRATS EVER TAUGHT ANY MANNERS?" A lilac haired man shouted angrily.

"Kind of hypocritical coming from thieves." I said as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"'Ey we works hard tryin' to steal dat dere Pikachu from da twoipe and twoipette!" Said a familiar feline face.

"WHUBBA!" The robin's egg blue…uh…blob cried out.

"Mime, mi, mime, mime!" The baby Pokémon cried.

"Whatever, Turtwi-" Ash began before I put my arm in front of him.

"Chill, Dragonite, give these jokers a Hyper Beam." I said as I tossed a Pokeball.

"You might want to do your outro." Dawn laughed.

"Uh…James? Wot level's dat Dragonite?" The Scratch Cat Pokemon asked worriedly.

"I think we're about to find out…" James began.

"…In a few seconds." Jessie finished.

"Actually, you won't even have that long." I said matter-of-factly.

A beam of bright yellow light erupted from Dragonite's mouth, sending the would-be Pokemon thieves hurtling off into the distance. I heard a very faint 'looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!' before I saw the familiar twinkle in the sky.

"Return." I said as I raised Dragonite's Pokéball and searched for a handhold.

"Well, let's start climbing out?" Ash suggested.

"Way ahead of you, man." I called over my shoulder as I scurried out of the pit, rolled over onto my stomach and lowered my arm down. Ash grabbed on and I hauled him out before grabbing Dawn's wrist and gently pulling her onto the cement.

"Thanks Will." Dawn said chirpily.

"Uh, no problem." I replied, I wasn't the type to blush, but my gut told me that any more of those types of comments would ensue in my face turning red.

"What level _is_ that Dragonite?" Ash asked being his usual Pokemaniac self.

"About eighty-eight, eighty-nine." I said at a rough estimate.

Ash's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates while Dawn gasped.

"What?"

"How…did…you…get…it…that…high?" Ash asked.

"I trained it…a lot."

"Well, that's obvious." Dawn said cheekily.

"Anyway let's just get back to birthday shopping." I suggested.

"Yeah, good idea." Ash replied.

After an uneventful walk down about two more streets we arrived at none other than---

"An unnamed mall." Ash said curiously.

"Uhh…yeah. I could've sworn this was a Stacy's." I said flatly.

"Don't you know anything about shopping? A mall's a mall." Dawn said, hands on hips.

We both looked at her.

"Men…" I heard her mutter.

**And that's it. Now Review if you want, no limit this time. Hope you liked it!**


	10. Chapter 10

Here's Chapter Ten! Woo double digits… yeah I'm not really good at the whole 'happy text' stuff. But whatever, enjoy.

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN WILL CONTARA AND LEON, NOTHING ELSE **

I looked at the text message I had just received and grimaced. Not ten seconds afterwards I got a call from a terrified May.

"I know, look Leon's gonna take care of you, stick close to him, we'll meet up later…Yeah, I'll tell him." I said as I hung up.

I glanced in the direction of the Pokémon Center and saw faint trails of smoke.

"Hey, I need you to follow me and don't ask questions." I said as I started to sprint to the south.

"Hey! Where're we going?" Ash shouted at me as Pikachu grabbed onto Ash's shoulder and planted its feet into his backpack and hung on for dear life.

"Away from here." I replied wishing that I had accepted the pistol that Wes had tried to give me.

"Why?" Dawn asked as she sprinted to keep up.

"There was an attack on the Pokémon Center. I'll give you more info as I get it." I shouted back as we sprinted to the gates.

"Where're we headed?" Ash asked again.

"The Pokémon Mansion." I said replied.

We continued to sprint for another minute.

"How far now?" Ash asked.

"Next left, once we're in the forest we'll slow down." I replied as Dawn started to slow down a bit.

Thirty seconds later we finally reached the gates that would allow us to exit the city.

I started to jog into the forest while contemplating a way to explain to Ash and Dawn why they were so important in the grand scheme of things.

"Now can you tell us just what in Giritina's Dimension is going on?" Ash asked angrily.

"Later, I promise." I replied.

"Wait, what about May? And Max?" Ash asked quickly.

"We'll meet up later." I replied. Quickly I checked the time on my Pokénav, the digital display blinked 7:49 I swore quietly. As the sun dwindled lazily on the horizon I saw stars begin to emerge, and the moon was poking out from the tree line.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked.

"The sun's setting, and that means it's gonna get cold, and in this forest it's better not to get caught at night." I replied.

"Why?"

"It drops to below forty degrees every night, even in summer." I replied.

"I hate cold." Dawn said bitterly.

"Okay, everyone, let's make camp…uh, how many Pokémon do we all have?"

"I've got Monferno, Pikachu, and Staravia."

"And I've got Buneary, Piplup, and Pachirisu." Dawn added.

"And with my Dragonite, Charmander, Mew, Eevee, Grovyle, and Kadabra, we've got seven battle hardened Pokémon, two decent Pokémon … and three rookies."

"Hey!"

"Well, it's true isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Dawn looked down sheepishly.

"Oh well, let's make camp. Dawn and I'll gather firewood, Ash you get the sleeping bags out." I said.

"Okay."

I caught a glimpse of Ash unrolling his sleeping bag, before Dawn and I wandered into the forest.

"You know?" Dawn asked as she crouched to pick up a twig. "I hope all this trouble ends pretty soon."

"No need to worry." I replied with a grin as I snapped a small branch in half.

"Hey! That's my line!" Dawn laughed.

"Well I'm hoping that if I say it then there really will be nothing to worry about." I chuckled.

Dawn raised an eyebrow.

"You're almost as good as me." I muttered as I looked at her.

"Thanks, I think."

"Eh, so did you really want me to be your date to the ball after the Contest ends?" I asked.

"Uh, well, only if you didn't mind. I mean if you didn't want to go that's fine. I just…uh…" Dawn trailed off as she began to blush.

"No, no, I was just wondering."

"Oh…"

"Well, I'd probably not be the best partner, I only know the waltz and a bit of the tango." I grinned.

"You know more than me then." Dawn laughed.

"The waltz is easy, I can show you, I've seen drunk people do it." I replied laughing.

"How is the waltz easy?"

"All you have to do is sway and walk around." I said as I shrugged.

"Really?"

"Yeah, here." I said as I put the small assortment of twigs down and motioned for her to join me.

"Uh, what do I do?" Dawn asked.

"Put one arm on my shoulder, and hold the other like this." I demonstrated.

"Okay."

"Now, I put one arm around your waist, then hold your hand like this." I continued.

"Now what?"

"Like I said just sway and walk around." I grinned as I started walk around a bit.

"Hey, this is pretty easy."

"Yeah, now if we get back to the Contest in time you can surprise everyone with a new dance." I laughed.

"Thanks, Will."

"Sure, now let's get back to Ash." I suggested as re-gathered the firewood, and began to walk back towards the campsite.

"Hey Will, Dawn." Ash called as we emerged from the forest.

"Hey." We replied in unison, then looked at each other and laughed, I stacked the firewood then grabbed a few berries and my all-purpose knife from my pack as Charmander lit the fire.

"Sorry, I don't have much, unless you guys have instant ramen or something all we can have are berries."

"I've got some ramen." Dawn said as she brandished a small wrapped pack.

"And I've got a small pot." Ash said as he pulled a pot from seemingly nowhere.

"Cool, Dawn have Piplup fill up the pot with a Water Gun, then let' s get the water boiling." I said as I cracked open three Watmel Berries.

"You heard him Piplup!" Dawn said as she pointed at the pot.

Piplup fired a weak Water Gun towards the pot, soon it was full and Charmander had awakened his inner pyromaniac that had been dormant ever since I scolded him for burning me over in Kanto, to this day I still think it had something to do with the Pokeball I had tried (and failed) to contain him in.

"CHARMANDER! Ch, ch, char, ch, ch, char, ch, ch, CHARRRRRR!" The firelizard shrieked and danced around like a barbarian. None of us said anything for a while, all just watching the seemingly psychotic Fire-type performing his odd ritual; finally I developed the temerity to speak as I said, "Uh…back in the Pokeball." And raised the sphere as a red beam of light erupted from the center button and recalled my long time companion.

"Will-"

"I have no idea." I stopped Ash mid-sentence.

After a small diner of ramen and a few berries we unrolled our sleeping bags and hit the hay. Anyway, we all fell asleep fairly quickly; before I lapsed into unconsciousness I gave myself one final mental pep talk for the events taking place tomorrow.

And that's the chapter. And I have what happened to the Pokémon Center written out already. In fact that was going to be this chapter, but I had second thoughts about it. It'll probably work its way into a future chapter, but until then characters that were involved will only reference the events that transpired. 


	11. Chapter 11

**And it goes to 11. A bit of Dawn x Will in this but nothing serious. Just hinted mutual attraction. Enjoy. By the way I hate to do this but the story is faltering. I have no intentions of ending the story all together but the possibility of the story disappearing to the complete darkness and heavily guarded realm of my laptop. However the story is in no immediate danger for now. **

I woke with a start, to the sound of Dawn crying in her sleeping bag, immediately I got up, walked over to her and gently shook her awake.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked quietly.

"I-I had a t-terrible nightmare." She sobbed fitfully.

"Shh…wanna tell me about it?" I asked as I opened my arms for a hug.

"N-No…"

"Alright, but if you get scared wake me okay?"

"Uh huh."

"Okay, good night."

"Night."

I crawled back into my sleeping bag and wondered what Dawn's nightmare was about, then tilted my head back and fell asleep once more. In my dream I relived my first mission as a BlackWatch Operative. The one that resulted in a dead C.O, a dead point man, and three battered, busied, and very traumatized recruits.

I awoke to a weight on my chest and a vanilla scented bush of navy hair in my face. Dawn had snuggled her head into my chest. Great.

I weighed the options:

A. Wake her up.

B. Just sit there.

C. Try to slide out from underneath her.

At the precise moment I was going to choose 'C' Dawn moved in her sleep, now she had her hand on my shoulder, her head on my chest, and was almost right next to me. Scratch 'C.'

I actually wasn't sure what do, she did have a nightmare last night, and whatever it was about obviously unnerved her. Finally I decided to wait and see if she'd wake up. As I thought back to when Dawn and I first met I smiled slightly, I had collected quiet a few criticisms for handing out my number to a rookie trainer I had never even met before. But damn if it wasn't worth it, I met a great friend and was able to meet Ash again.

Dawn stirred in her sleep, slowly waking up. I smiled at her as she opened her eyes groggily.

"Will?"

"Yeah, you sleep well?" I asked

"Huh?" That's when Dawn realized that she was still right next to me.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I-"

"Shhh…It's okay, besides you don't want to wake Ash up just yet, he can be a little…pissy when he's tired." I said as I grinned at her.

Dawn rolled off of me and quickly stood up; while I got up and stretched she rolled up her sleeping bag and grabbed her clothes.

"I'll be right back." She said as she walked a little further into the forest.

I looked down and remembered that I had fallen asleep in my clothes. I shrugged as I grabbed my pack and rooted through it, some dirty clothes, an old toothbrush, empty tube of toothpaste, half empty bag of stale chips, a photo of Dawn and I both laughing and smiling.

I paused at that as I thought back to that day, Dawn had participated in a practice Contest and won, the photo was taken when I had treated her to ice cream and Ash had stumbled into the parlor, and was immediately swarmed by fan-girls. Brock almost had a heart attack as most of the girls were a little older than Ash and immediately began shouting proposals of marriage and his undying love. Dawn almost fell into her sundae laughing and I had to lean against the wall for support.

"I'm back." Dawn giggled behind me.

"Hey." I said as I turned around.

"Oh, I remember that, poor Croagunk, he almost died from using Poison Jab so many times." Dawn laughed as she caught a glance at the photo.

"Yeah, I almost felt sorry for Brock, I mean I know he's desperate, but I was expecting him to be a little better behaved."

"He's Brock."

"Rub it in, why don't you?" I replied, at which we both chuckled.

"Are you okay?" Dawn suddenly turned serious, and the question caught me off guard.

"Huh?"

"Last night, you choked in your sleep, then you woke me up because you were whimpering a bit." Dawn explained as she blushed a little.

"I just had a really bad dream, sorry I woke you." I explained.

"Yeah, I tried to wake you up, but it was like you were locked in your sleep. What was the dream?" Dawn asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about."

"C'mon, tell me."

Maybe I could have phrased that better.

"No. My past, my business." I said flatly.

"Oh, like was it a monster?"

"Not even close." I could tell that my voice was a bit darker and was afraid that Dawn would notice.

"Sorry."

Just my luck.

"Not your fault." I said simply.

**Done. The chap is done. Finally done! And the mission that Will references _might_ see the light of day at a later date. Reviews will help it emerge from the depths of Microsoft Word sooner…**


	12. Chapter 12

Okay, some stuff happens but no major plot advancement in this chapter.

**Enjoy.**

My eyes opened just before the sun crested the treetops and shook the others awake. After I shook Dawn, and Ash awake we headed towards the Pokémon Mansion. The walk didn't take long, as we had covered most of the distance last night. Ash and Dawn chatted about things like battle strategies. And just what in the name of Giritina was going on. More of the latter, less of the former.

Finally we saw the gates of the mansion. I walked back towards the eastern wall, stepped back a good distance, ran at the wall, jumped up, and hauled myself onto the small ledge, then leaned down and helped present company over. Soon we were walking over the inner grounds and I knocked at a side door.

"Identification?" A gruff voice answered.

"Will Contara, Dawn Berlitz, Ash Ketchum."

"Get inside."

We did as requested, and I found myself with a sub-machine gun leveled at my chest. I realized what was going on and slowly raised my hands until they were slightly above my head.

The guard took me by the collar and pressed me against the wall while he patted me down. I glanced over and saw Ash and Dawn being given the same treatment. After the frisk the guard decided to check my bag, before I saw Wes emerge from the left side of the entryway, "O'Brien! Why the hell are you wasting the Lieutenant's time?"

"Sir, I thought you wanted me to search them."

"I said confirm that it's him, now get that damned gun out of his face!"

The guard lowered his weapon and apologized and his partners did the same while we moved past.

As soon as we entered the main room however, I heard a cry and soon enough a girl wearing a red blouse, white mini-skirt, black biker shorts, and of course the signature red bandanna launched herself at Ash.

"Thank Celibie, I was so worried." May half-cried half-laughed into Ash's shoulder.

Dawn and I wore similar expressions, a cross between, 'Why don't I get welcomed like that?' and 'Maybe we should leave them alone.' We both acted on the first.

"To think, I act as your older brother for Arceus-knows how many years and I don't even get a 'Hey Will, good to see you still alive.' For shame"

"Yeah!" Dawn said with mock seriousness.

May looked away from cuddling Ash at us, "Did you guys say something?"

"Uh…it's great to see you too May." I don't claim to possess foresight or any other means of telling the future, but to me it seemed as if May was about to spill her secret.

"Hey Will, Dawn." Max greeted as he strolled into the room.

"Hey." I replied.

"You two sleep with each other yet?" Max asked casually.

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have let Dawn ring his neck so thoroughly. In my defense I was offered coffee from one of the other BlackWatch operatives and I took a grateful sip; it's hard being awake and perky without caffeine.

"Do you know what's going on Ash?"

"No, but May-"

"What's going on?" May directed the question towards me.

"Classified. For now." I replied.

"May, I love you!" Ash said impatiently as he hugged the brunette close to him.

I choked and almost preformed my first spit-take, Dawn grinned, Pikachu fell off the arm of the chair that he had claimed, Max simply stood slack jawed through the entire thing, and May damn near fainted on the spot. Brock, who had missed the once-in-a-lifetime event walked into the room a few minutes later.

"What'd I miss guys?" He laughed as he clapped a hand on my shoulder.

Yeah, it's short but I needed to put something up after all this time. But at least I can actually write the story like it was supposed to be written now. Took Ash long enough…


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm not exactly thrilled with the chapter… But Weasel-san (my muse) threatened to abandon me if I didn't update. No joke, it was pulling out the metaphorical paperwork.**

After recovering from Ash's shocking confession, I found the makeshift situation room in what used to be a dinning room, along with some of the team leaders.

"Lieutenant, it's good to see you still in one piece." I looked over and saw Keria, a female officer; she was Charlie team's leader and one of the most willing people I had ever met. If you needed soldiers to hold a line or defend a position hers was the first hand up.

"Likewise." I responded, despite the earlier antics this was no-nonsense, after all, an attack had been made on a civilian building and the two casualties during the raid hung heavy on my mind.

"We've got teams Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo, I've also took the liberty of requisitioning the remaining members of your Shadow team, sir."

"Good. What about the Pokémon Center?"

"Not our problem."

"Well then, what gives you reason to believe that we'd need five highly trained and effective teams, not counting my own to transport five teenagers?'" I asked.

"Higher isn't taking any chances, and can you blame them?"

"Not easily." A third voice made me turn, and of course Leon was standing in the doorway wearing full combat gear, even behind a tactical mask, bullet-proof vest, all sorts of pads, and steel-toed boots, the cold gray eyes were unmistakable.

"Team Foxtrot, thought you could use a hand."

"As did Red Cross." I saw Crystal emerge from behind Leon.

I couldn't help but smile as I saw the two standing shoulder to shoulder willing to fight and possibly die just to transport five teenagers to safety. No way anything short of one of the old W48's was going to scratch Ash or the others. Right?

The next day was business as usual, Ash, May, Dawn, Max, and Brock, all rested as did their Pokemon, I almost tripped over Pikachu as I walked out of the restroom, the rodent was wearing an inner tube and apparently had plans for the bathtub. Leon, Keria, and the others made sure their individual teams were ready and prepared all of the equipment required for the extraction of Ash and friends. I stepped outside of the Pokémon Mansion clad in all black, as was the norm, under the shirt I was wearing a bulletproof jacket, and the dog tags I usually kept in a side pocket of my backpack. I wasn't wearing any other gear primarily because it would be tedious to pretend nothing bad was happening if any of my friends saw me.

"We're clear for the next two hundred meters." I saw several teenagers emerge from the shrubbery outside of the mansion.

"Good. We set out in one hour." I replied to the recon team.

"Yes sir."

I donned the rest of my gear in under two minutes, then trooped off to the foyer where Ash, Dawn, May, and Max were, I already had Pikachu under my arm and Keria keeping an eye on Brock.

"Come on guys, outside."

"Who're you?" Ash asked as he looked at me, I couldn't blame him, combat mask, all sorts of bulletproof armor, _I_ barely recognized me.

"That hurts Ash, that really hurts, you don't even recognize me." I said feigning shock and emotional pain.

"Will?"

"Bingo, now come on, stick close to me."

With that having been said I turned on my heel, and walked out of the foyer, into the main entryway.

"Everyone here?" I saw a tall figure wearing the standard black garb with a blue band around his upper arm. This was Gabe the highest rank here and thereby leader of all the teams.

"You know the plan, make sure Will's team has the best cover, they're the escort."

Within five minutes all seventy of us had trouped into the forest, weapons drawn.

"We probably won't even need them." I reassured the group as we kept a good pace towards the landing zone.

As if determined to prove me wrong, gunfire erupted from the left! I heard curses yelled as I grabbed Max, who was closest to me, a second before a ball of fire erupted where he was standing, and took off, running towards the landing zone, I saw others from my team following my lead as thirty of us started sprinting, one handing smaller weapons.

_One hundred yards_

Shouting, gunfire, and curses filled my ears as trees flew past us.

"Where the fuck did they come from?" I heard a startled soldier cry as he ducked behind a tree.

Seventy yards

Cries from the Pokémon in the forest, then more gunfire.

Fifty yards

Max was growing weary as but kept close.

Twenty yards

The zone was in sight; seven helicopters hovered four feet from the ground. One of the pilots held his sidearm out to cover us.

"Max, Ash with me!" I shouted over the roar of the blades.

I jumped into the compartment of the chopper and helped Ash and Max onboard.

As soon as we were in, the chopper it took off, I saw other members of my team jumping aboard and the choppers lifting upwards. Ash and Max sat across me none of us spoke.

"Where're we headed?" Max asked.

"Headquarters." I replied.

"How come we can't just Teleport there?" Ash asked.

"Apparently the adverse party has a machine that can re-open and use the wormholes a Pokemon leaves behind when it uses Teleport."

After that we sat in silence again, the earpiece I wore erupted in noise, some static the din of battle then I heard Gabe's voice shouting in my ear, "Contara! Are you there Contara?"

"I'm here, we're on one of the choppers, what's your status?" I asked into the microphone.

"We're mopping up the enemy, most of the bastards scattered after the initial assault but a small portion stuck around, only a few left, Gold team's on the next bird out, we're after them. I'll see you back at H.Q."

"Yes sir." I replied. The COM channel went dead. Then, and only then did I relax. Slightly.

**Yeah, the machine was pulled out of my Big Bag of Excuses (Patent pending)… But still, the plot shall go on! Hopefully this will appease Weasel-san…**


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay, I'm back and really don't feel like having my first multi-chapter story go down as a failure. Therefore I'm going to finish the thing while retaining as much quality as I can! Wow, exclamation mark… weird for me… anyway I've got the final scenes in mind and just need to get the current cast of characters there. And now, what most of you have probably been waiting for, the next chapter. Enjoy.**

I leaned against the closed door of the helicopter and glanced out the small window at the trees that blurred as we flew by. Interesting the first time you rode a chopper, drab scenery the next thirty times.

Max was leaning against the opposing wall keeping his thoughts to himself as he stared blankly at the emergency equipment beside me.

Ash however voiced his opinion of this whole situation in general, and me in particular, "Are you just going to sit there and tell us that nothing's happening and not to worry our pretty little heads or are you going to explain what the hell's going on?" Ash had shouted at me.

"I'm not going to repeat myself! You'll find out when May, Dawn, and Brock do!" I called over the noise of the propellers.

Ash glared at me and sulked in his seat.

I moved up to crouch between the pilots and asked how much longer it would take to get to wherever our destination was.

"Ten minutes!" The co-pilot called back over his shoulder.

"Where're we going anyway?" I shouted.

"Headquarters!" He called back.

After about five minutes of staring out the window at the trees that flew past I noticed that Max was staring around at the interior of the chopper.

"What kind of helicopter is this?" Max asked as he slid his hand over the closed door.

"HH-60G Pave Hawk." I replied instantly.

I felt the helicopter descend and eventually we landed in a clearing. A gigantic plane had been landed on a makeshift runway near the end of the field with the propellers still turning. As our chopper hovered around three feet off the ground Ash, Max, and I jumped onto the solid floor and watched as the other two Pave Hawks flew in and let off May, Dawn, Brock, and several other soldiers from my team. We all turned as we saw one of the pilots jog towards us while pointing towards the plane that I now recognized as the only C-130 that BlackWatch possessed. Showed just how paranoid the higher-ups were getting… not exactly the most comforting thought. As a group Dawn, May, Max, Brock, Ash, Pikachu, and the remaining soldiers that I led into the C-130's bay.

"Put these on!" The pilot shouted in my ear as he handed me a headset.

The noise from the engines died from a deafening roar to a tolerable purr as soon as the speakers covered my ears. As the pilot passed the headsets out to the others I did a mental headcount; five of my guys plus Ash and Co. That meant that the other two were either dead or helping out Gabe and the rest of the operatives.

As the plane lurched forward I sat in one of the seats and keyed the mic that came attached to the headphones.

"Testing…"

"I hear you loud and clear." Said Brock as he spoke into the mic.

"I figure you guys might as well know what's going on now." I said and immediately felt all eyes upon me.

**Man… short chapters are becoming usual for me now… they'll get longer as I get back in the flow of things. Anyway I'm sorry about the hiatus and have the entire story planned out and am starting to add flesh to the metaphorical bones, to those who enjoyed the story that left because of the delay; I'm sorry and hope that you see this has been updated. To those that stayed, thank-you, I cannot express how much it means to me. If you want to take the time to post a Review then I thank you in advance.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, sorry about the delay, I kinda got distracted with a bunch of stuff. And to the Anon reviewer Like a Boss: Yeah, I hate it when authors quit writing a great story! I hope that you get an account.**

"Alright," I started as I leaned against the wall and motioned the others to move a bit closer, "You guys are connected to legendary Pokémon. That means that when you die all of the 'life energy' gets transferred to the Pokémon you're connected to, don't ask me how, I just get orders and carry them out."

At this point May raised a hand, "Why do these 'connections' matter so much?" She asked.

"Because you have to die naturally, you can't be killed intentionally. For example if Ash were to fall off a building and die then it'd be okay, but if Ash had been shot when we were running for the helicopters all of the life energy would have been _taken_ from the Pokémon he's connected to and the Pokémon would die."

"Which Pokémon are we connected to?" Max asked as he glanced around expectantly.

This is going to take a while…

"Max, you share a connection with Jirachi, Dawn you have one with Mesprit." I replied.

Silence prevailed for a minute before May piped up with, "What about Ash and me?"

"You guys are a strange case, you both share a connection to Ho-oh."

"How can you even tell that we're connected?" Ash asked as he rested his head on his hand.

"There's a shrine, don't ask where because I don't know, but this shrine will glow when someone is chosen and an image of their face will appear above it as well as an image of the Pokémon that chose them. I was told to protect Ash and Dawn, then we ran into May and Max."

"Lots of people have to be involved in this, it can't just be you and a few friends…" Brock trailed off as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, about that," I sighed and stretched before continuing, "there's an orginazation called BlackWatch, basically we watch over anyone who's chosen until they die. There are around four hundred field operatives and five hundred people who sit behind desks. None of the field agents are above the age of twenty-one, the younger we are the more we blend in with those we have to watch out for. I don't know who funds us but we were formed about thirty years ago by the man who discovered the shrine, he was apparently very wealthy and, from what I've been told, one of his psychic Pokémon explained the shrine's purpose. After that he convinced the Kanto Trainer Registration Committee to send him a copy of each new Trainer's license, after the first time one of the licenses matched up with the shrine's images he started to put together an orginazation. I don't know who gets us all of the technology but it has been helpful." I leaned back and saw that everyone was still listening and apparently my explanation kept them all on the edge of their seats. Maybe I should go into public speaking…

"How do you expect us to trust you now?" Dawn asked quietly.

I looked at her and saw that she was close to tears and, as I looked around, the others had begun to show just how unsure they were of what was going on.

"I'd be stupid if I did." I replied simply.

"How many times did you lie to us?" Ash asked as he started to glare at me.

"I never lied to you, I might not have told you the whole truth, but I never lied." worded carefully.

"Do you have any proof about what you're telling us?" Brock asked, remaining neutral as ever.

"None that I'm authorized to show anyone. Anyone else have a question?"

"I got one; how the hell did we get ambushed so easily?" One of my soldiers, Platinum asked.

"We'll find out at headquarters." I replied.

"I understand why you did what you did," May began slowly, "but you have to realize that you've lost a lot of my trust."

"I don't hold anything against you." I replied as I felt the plane start to decline.

"I don't get why you just get off that easily, you don't tell us anything at all, then when you do it's only 'cause we got _shot at_. What's your deal Contara?" Ash angrily asked as he stood.

"Do you think I enjoyed having to choose between my friends and my orders?" I asked.

"Friends? You think of us as friends? I know I don't!" Ash laughed darkly.

I never knew how much words could hurt until I heard that. It felt like a quick stab to the heart.

"Your call." I replied evenly.

**There you go, next chapter they finally get to the BlackWatch HQ. Hope you enjoyed it. Reviews will be used to complete the next chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Here's chapter sixteen, I had a lot of fun writing this one and because of that you guys get a 1000 word chapter. Other than that I didn't realize that when I removed the Author's Note that it would completely screw up the Reviews. If you have any comments or questions regarding chapter 15 please PM them to me. **

I felt the shock of the landing gear hitting the tarmac and felt a jerk as the plane fully landed. I stood and waited for one of the pilots to give us the okay to open the bay and step out.

"So what now?" Max asked warily.

"Now we leave." I replied as the 'door' slowly lowered itself to the ground.

May, Dawn, Ash, Max, Brock, Platinum, the rest of my soldiers, and I all trotted out of the C-130 and onto the runway as a truck stopped about ten feet from us.

"Ketchum, Berlitz, Maple, Maple, and Slade are supposed to get in." The guy behind the wheel called as he lazily pointed a thumb towards the back.

"It'll be fine." I assured Max and Dawn as they hesitated to clamber into the truck.

I started to walk over to the debriefing room as the truck started to thunder towards the housing area.

"Mister Contara!" I heard from behind.

"Yeah?" I asked as I turned and saw an old man dressed in a monk-like habit with a small feather and script emblem on his shoulder. It took me a second to realize that Francis, one of the leaders of BlackWatch and the head of the accounting department was jogging towards me.

"Sir." I said hastily as I snapped a quick salute.

"At ease boy, at ease." The old man smiled at me as he hooked an arm around my shoulders and guided me towards the mess hall.

"You must be starving! Let us share lunch."  
"Thank you, sir." I replied as I tried to wrap my mind around _why_ one of the most important people in a secret organization would want to share lunch with _me_ of all people.

Before I knew what had happened I was sitting at a table with Francis across from me eating a salad and I had some noodles in front of me that I didn't remember ordering.

"So, you ordered the steamed noodles? How strange…" Francis said as he placed his fork by his plate.

"Strange?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Yes, I've found that people who enjoy pasta dishes are often times uncertain and hesitant to act without knowing every fact about the situation at hand, but you have proven many times that you can improvise well and act on the spur of the moment. Therefore I find it strange that you should take a liking to pasta."

"I guess so… but sir, with all due respect, I doubt you brought me here just to give me your analysis of me."

"And you would be right," Francis said without missing a beat, "I am sitting across from you to tell you that we have decided to move your friends to Silph Corporation's main building in Saffron City. You and a small group that you will handpick are going to act as their guards while in transit and will stay with them until we can figure out what went so horribly wrong earlier today."

I stewed over this information for a few minutes.

"How long will we be here?" I asked before dipping the noodles into the Tamato berry sauce.

"I don't see why we should send you off tonight, you have survived a very traumatic experience. You deserve a good night's sleep." Francis replied with a warm smile.

"One more question, sir."

"Yes?"

"Why the feather and paper?" I asked curiously.

"The quill and script emblem? Think about it, dear boy. My department handles the accounting, what _better_ way to represent that then the oldest way of recording data?" Francis asked rhetorically.

"Good point."

"Now, plenty of time has passed and you should enjoy the good night's sleep I mentioned earlier, your friends are in house one-thirty-four." The old man said as he stood.

"Yessir." I stood and started to jog off to the housing area. Perhaps now would be a good time to explain, the complex is built on a mile wide oval, along the outer perimeter we have barbed wire fencing to prevent any overly curious Trainers, along the interior the buildings form a rectangle with the mess hall being opposite the main gate. On the left sat the briefing building, the housing area, and the main office, to the right was the Research and Development Center, the firing range, a hanger, and the runway that was shaped like a giant 'L.'

I got to the small house that Dawn and everyone else were at within two minutes and opened stepped in.

"Hey, you missed it!" Max called as I glanced around the sitting room to see Ash and May on the sofa, Brock lounging in a chair, and Max leaned up against a wall.

"Missed what?" I asked as I noticed that May's hair was soaked. Obviously they found the showers.

"May just had her first kiss!" Max laughed manically.

"Shut up!" The brunette shouted from the couch.

Before Max could respond a shriek pierced the air! I had been in the house before, as such I knew the layout the shriek had come from the bathroom and since the only person that I didn't see in the living room was Dawn I assumed that she was in the bathroom. I dashed through the living room and down the hall, immediately to my left was a closed door. I slammed my shoulder against it, the lock gave, and I stumbled into the room beyond.

The first thing I noticed was that cold water was splashing against my face. BlackWatch never ran out of hot water. Ever. Then I noticed that Dawn was right in front of me with nothing but a towel around her. But that made no sense; Dawn's scream had come from the bathroom. Suddenly it all clicked; Dawn was taking a shower and had somehow run out of hot water. But Dawn was right here, which meant-

"I'm dead." I said aloud as Dawn's cheeks darkened and she cried, "Pervert!"

I walked back into the living room completely soaked and sporting a bright red mark across my cheek, in all it could have been worse, Dawn was more worried about keeping her towel around her then she was maiming me.

"And I thought _I_ was desperate." Brock snickered as everyone stared at me.

**And that's the chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Alright, new chapter and a new POV, this time it's from Ash's perspective. And to the Anon reviewer 'Like a Boss' No problem, and I've kept up-to-date on each of the stories lol! You're right, they deserve to be finished. Anyway good luck!**

'_How can the bastard stand there like nothing strange happened?'_ Ash thought as he glared at Will, who had recently walked back into the living room of the small house that the group had been escorted to by the lazy driver of the truck that picked them up earlier.

The raven-haired teen clenched his fists as he looked spitefully at Will.

"Contara, why did you screw with our emotions?" Ash spat out angrily.

"Already told you; I did what I was told to do." The older boy replied calmly.

"I mean how could you in good conscious, play with our trust?" Ash asked louder, not to the point of shouting but getting close.

"It wasn't 'in good conscious.'" Will replied as he made air quotes around the last three words.

This action only created a spark for the metaphorical powder keg that Ash was having a hard time keeping a lid on. The person that had saved him once, given him advice, and shared blood, sweat, and tears with, was playing his cards far too close to the chest and refused to show any remorse or at least empathy, for taking advantage of his supposed friend's naiveté and this only enraged the Trainer.

"Fuck you!" Ash cried as he threw a punch that was easily caught by the trained operative.

"Calm down." Will whispered as he shoved Ash's fist, and by extension arm, backwards, causing the Trainer to stumble and loose his balance.

Ash quickly rose and tried to tackle Will, who simply sidestepped the attack.

"Ash, please don't fight with him." Came the soft voice of May.

Ash whirled around towards the brunette and immediately looked down shamefacedly: the girl whom he had fallen completely head over heels for was blinking back tears and obviously torn between her two friends. It amazed him that despite all that Will had put them through May still cared about him. Ash looked towards the ground in an attempt to hide his own face that grew hot with embarrassment. As he slowly looked around he saw that Brock and Max were moving into position to grab Ash if he tried another attack. As if she had caught a cue from above, Dawn timidly stepped into the living room wearing an oversized tee shirt that came down to her knees, and socks.

"Wh- what's going on?" Dawn asked as she looked around to see Ash standing across from Will who _still_ appeared relaxed.

"Ash and I had a small disagreement, nothing major." Will covered as he leaned against the wall.

"Then what was with the thumping I heard? And the shouting?" The blunette pressed.

"Like I said, it was a small disagreement." Will said as he yawned.

"I think we should get some sleep now, I've got a feeling that we're in for a long day tomorrow." Brock suggested as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, well no arguments here." Max added trying to defuse the still dangerous situation.

Everyone else agreed and due to the house only having one bedroom it was decided that May and Dawn should take the two twin beds, Ash and Max took the sofa bed.

"I swear if you start to cuddle…" Max had muttered as he took his side.

Meanwhile Will had passed out on the loveseat, his feet resting on the coffee table a few feet away, while Brock resigned himself to a sore back in the morning as he leaned back in a heavily padded chair.

Ash Ketchum woke in a cold sweat, in his dream he had been running through the forest from earlier today with gunfire on all sides, except this time he had no cover, no allies, and no helicopter or Pokémon to rescue him. As he tripped over a tree root and the ground rushed up to meet him the Trainers eyes snapped open as he sat bolt upright. As the boy looked for his Pokégear he noticed that the kitchen light was turned on and heard the soft sound of dishes clinking. Without waking anyone in the room he shuffled into the kitchen to see May sitting back at the table talking quietly to Will as he poured a cup of coffee. Looking up the older boy offered the cup that he had just filled to the newcomer. Ash was about to wave it away but then thought better of it and wrapped his hands around the warm mug.

"What's going on?" Ash asked quietly before taking a sip of the coffee.

"I got a little more information and May couldn't sleep."

"What kind of information?" Ash asked curiously.

"The good kind. The guys that attacked us earlier today worked for a company called 'Contingency.' Long story short, they were mercenaries."

"How's that a _good_ thing?" May asked worriedly.

"It means that someone's paying them. That means there's a paper trail." Will replied as he caught their uncertain glances.

"A paper trail?" Ash asked curiously.

"There'll be records… and if someone has the money to hire a group like that then they must be really, really, wealthy." May concluded as she propped her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Or they handle the accounting for a large business." Will added.

"Is that it?" Ash asked.

"I'm sure that there's more going on behind the scenes that I'm not being told about right now. Probably they've got a team hacking into Contingency's servers, and from there they'll trace where all of the money came from, and work from there." Will listed.

The group sat around the table and mulled over what they had figured out. Eventually May gave Ash a peck on the cheek and said that she was going to try to go to sleep. Both teens watched her walk out before an awkward silence descended and they began to shuffle around.

"So…how are you two doing?" Will asked.

"Well," Ash started, "we're kind of going on instinct right now. Neither of us have been in a relationship before this so…" He trailed off.

"Take it slow. Figure out what works for both of you right now." The older boy advised.

"Look, I… I'm sorry about earlier. I was just really angry and…" Ash said quickly as he looked away.

"You reacted the way any normal person would. Besides, I owe you a couple of punches." Will replied as he pushed himself away from the table.

"You said you never lied to us… did you leave anything out of anything you told us?" Ash asked.

"I left out a lot of stuff." Will answered.

"Ya know, May said something while you were gone about Dawn having a thing for you." Ash said out of nowhere.

"What?" Will asked quickly.

"She said to Dawn that if she wanted to make her feelings anymore obvious that she might as well just kiss you."

"You don't... you don't think that she'd take that seriously... do you?" The BlackWatch operative asked.

"Who knows?" Ash laughed.

"I knew she had a crush on me but..." Will trailed off.

"Well I'm gonna try to catch a few winks." Ash yawned.

"Go for it."

**I know most of you are still waiting for the major shipping stuff and trust me, it's coming. The only thing that's holding it back is the current part of the plot. But I have a feeling that if I don't finish this little 'arc' soon there people who're going to kick in my door and super-glue me to the computer chair until I do.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay, I can't apologize for how long it's been since I updated, it's inexcusable. I can however, offer an explanation and hope for forgiveness. Here it is: high school is freakin' annoying to deal with. Aside from that, Halo: REACH came out as soon as I had gotten the motivation to finish this chapter up, and as such, I got a little carried away in playing it. By the time I had remembered that I had a chapter to finish, I was tired and felt more obligated to sleep than type. I hope you understand. **

I stood stock-still for a long time after Ash left, I thought about the entire conversation the three of us had shared. What did we learn? That whoever hired Contingency obviously had deep pockets, that they were either determined enough to dig up information on Contingency, or that they had were high enough up in _some_ chain to know about them. And that Dawn had more than a crush on me.

"Only when all hell breaks loose do I find out." I muttered to myself with a chuckle as I pulled the dossiers from the envelope and sat at the table.

After thirty minutes of careful deliberation I decided that a five-man team would be best for protecting everyone and took another look at the faces staring back at me.

Davis Feldren: despite his chatty nature, the twenty-year-old man could disappear on a moments notice and it was rumored that he could walk down a well-lit hallway without being seen.

Kathrin "Rin" Chandlers: a personal friend, and one of the best hackers I had ever met, she could get into any mainframe in existence, even under fire, provided she had enough cover. Witty and a little bit shy, her trust was hard to earn, but she was one of the most reliable people I had ever met.

James Charbeck: while he couldn't recite the Fibonacci numbers off the top of his head, the seventeen-year-old could fieldstrip a rifle in less than thirty seconds and put it back together in the dark. In fact he had done so on more than one occasion. He didn't care much for philosophy and only pointed his rifle at what he intended to kill.

Erica Richardson: at nineteen, she was arguably the best sharpshooter in BlackWatch, the chestnut haired girl took orders well and you would be hard pressed to find a more compassionate person anywhere.

Everyone on the team, counting myself, was capable and specialized in different fields. I knew that I had chosen well and that they were all willing to risk their necks to protect someone else.

That being done, I pulled my handgun from the shoulder holster and cleaned it, starting with the barrel and ending with the firing mechanism. After cleaning the weapon I expelled the magazine and checked to make sure that it was fully loaded; all twenty 5.7 rounds were there. I moved over to the cabinet above the refrigerator and pulled out two extra pistol clips, both of which I full loaded and placed in a pocket of my cargo pants. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost seven-thirty. I had spent ninety minutes picking a team and cleaning my gun. I called Feldren, Rin, Charbeck, and Richardson and told each that they were selected for the team and to be at the house with their weapon of choice and full combat gear within an hour. Afterwards I moved to the living room and woke everyone with a shout of, "Time to get up!"

Max and Brock were immediately up and moving, while Ash threw a pillow at me and muttered something along the lines of, "Leave me the hell alone…"

"I'll get breakfast started, Max wake him up please." Brock said as he plucked Pikachu off of his lap and gently tossed him onto Ash.

"I'll wake up the girls." I said as I moved to the back area of the house.

I opened the door to the bedroom and quietly moved to the side of the bed and shook May awake.

"Get up." I whispered.

"Go away… tell Birch to keep the Torchic for another hour…." May moaned as she rolled over.

"Not happening. Come on, get up." I replied.

May's eyes opened fully and she glared at me.

"Can't even wake a lady properly…" She muttered.

"Wake Dawn up, I need all of you in the living room in ten minutes."

"What about breakfast?" May asked as she sat up groggily.

"Brock's making it, c'mon, the quicker you get her up the more time you have to eat." I said as I walked over to the closet of the room.

"Wha? May? What's going on?" I heard Dawn ask as she yawned.

I opened the closet and pulled out all five of the bullet-proof vests that were stored there and handed two of them two May and Dawn.

"Put 'em on over your clothes, okay?"

"Uh, Will, how do you put these on?" Dawn asked as she pulled at the straps quizzically.

"Get dressed and bring 'em out. I'll have someone help you out." I replied as I walked out of the room.

Back in the living room Richardson and Charbeck had arrived and were sitting down with their masks pulled down below their chins and their helmets on the ground in front of them.

"Sir." They both snapped to attention when I walked in.

"At ease, I need you two to help May and Dawn get their Kevlar on. I'm going to get everyone else suited up."

"On it." Came the simultaneous reply.

Within ten minutes I had May, Dawn, Ash, Brock, and Max all wearing Kevlar vests and black balaclavas. They were virtually unidentifiable, which was exactly what I wanted; with myself, Rin, Richardson, and Charbeck mixed together with Ash and the others no one would be able to tell anyone apart.

At that moment Rin chose to jog in through the front door, carrying a small machine pistol, a MAC-10 by the look of it, and a Model 608 CAR-15 Survival Rifle.

"Damn girl, you're kind of under-armed." Erica joked with her as she gestured to the L96A1 rifle that she had propped against a chair and the M93R Berretta that she had holstered on her hip.

"You're early." I called to her.

"'If you're not fifteen minutes early, you're fifteen minutes late.'" She quoted from the BlackWatch handbook that was handed out to all new recruits.

"Too true." Replied Feldren as he walked in behind her. The man carried a sound-suppressed Vector CRB/SO and a Glock 37.

Charbeck glanced towards his L22 Carbine and seemed more than satisfied as the two started to compare their weapons and discuss cleaning methods.

Five minutes later everyone looked like one another and I had procured a few empty mags and given everyone in the group an XM29 OICW with no bullets in the clip.

"Best not to have too many inconstancies." I had said as Ash paled underneath his balaclava.

As our group of ten crossed towards the jet-black armored van I had a strange feeling that no one would return from the mission unscathed. As I stepped in I withdrew my M14 and Taurus PT 24/7. As I pulled my balaclava and adjusted my combat helmet Ash, Max, and Feldren climbed in and helped the others in. As soon as we had closed the door the van gently took off. I glanced around; Ash was staring out the bulletproof window as everyone else settled in for the hour long drive.

**And that's the chapter. R&R if you want.**


	19. Chapter 19

*******READ***

**Author's Note:**

**This story is being discontinued. No 'if's, 'and's, or 'but's. I've lost the motivation to continue writing this and have to focus on school. I will be re-writing this story in a much more organized fashion and will note release a single chapter until I have the entire thing written, drafted, revised, edited, revised again, and sealed water tight. It'll take a while, if you want to see the finished product feel free to subscribe. I hope that you'll stop by the revised version. If not, then let me say now that I'm honored to have entertained you, if even for only a moment. For now I'll mark the story as complete and get to work on the new version.**

**Sincerely, Gecko.**

I looked around the truck and pulled the blueprints for Silph's building from the netting above my head and had my team gather around.

"Okay," I started, "Here's where we're going in," I pointed at the shipping bay, "from there we're going through the service lift to the sixth floor, some of the employees live on-site and this is where they sleep. From there we sit tight until we get more intel from headquarters." I finished.

"How many civies?" Erica asked.

"As far as I know, no more than twenty live on that floor." I replied.

"Any callsigns or special orders?" Charbeck asked.

"Two," I pointed at Charbeck, "Three," this time I pointed at Erica, "Four," I pointed at Davis, "Five," this was Rin, "and Lead." I pointed towards myself.

"Copy." Rin replied.

The truck stopped moving. Everyone stood and Rin, holding her Model 608, opened the doors and stepped out, Charbeck and Erica following with weapons drawn, then came Ash, May, and Brock. After those six came Davis, Max, Dawn, and myself, each had weapons at the ready and looked around. The truck had stopped in Silph's shipping bay, which, thankfully, was emptied especially for our arrival.

Empty, save for one man, he wore a well-pressed suit, obviously new shoes, a short haircut, and a thousand Poké watch.

"Welcome, your superiors have explained the situation to me and I must say that I'm _honored_ to have you here." The man said snidely to Davis as I stepped forward and retorted with a calm, "If you want the squad leader, sir, you're talking to the wrong person."

"And you are the 'squad leader?'" The man asked putting air-quotes around the last two words.

"That'd be me, sir." I replied evenly.

"Then you should know that I'm less than thrilled to have thugs with guns skulking around my… establishment."

"Not my choice to be here, if you want to take it up with my superiors then be my guest." I replied, dropping the 'sir.'

"If you wish to remain my guests and be treated as such, I would recommend keeping a civil tongue in your head and handing over your weapons to my security team."

"My tongue is perfectly civil, and I'm afraid that I can't give a civilian a BlackWatch issue weapon without direct permission from my CO, Francis Twombly."

This was a bit of a stretch, but seeing as Francis had briefed me and given me the dossiers he had, in a sense, become my handler and CO.

"I was not aware that you had one of BlackWatch's leader's ear. Tell him that Timothy LeClair sends his regards. And your rifles stay. You may keep the sidearms, so long as they are out of sight, I don't need you," he paused, trying to find a less offensive term, "'soldiers' giving any investors the wrong idea."

I wanted to tell him to go to Giritina's Dimension and send me a postcard. I wanted to remind him that I was the one with the heavily armed spec-ops team. I wanted to tell him that we were dealing with a bit bigger of a problem than looking good to investors.

Instead I told him that I'd get in touch with Francis and that for now he had better keep my M14 spotless. The rest of my team reluctantly followed my lead and handed over their rifles as Timothy's security team walked in. I tugged my baklava off and looked towards my team as they removed theirs.

"Keep it on!" I snapped at Max as he started to pull his over his head. I didn't mean to be mean, but I didn't fully trust that LeClair wouldn't sell us out if he thought that he could make a quick buck, and if he had a photographic memory, the last thing that I wanted was one of the VIP's to show their face. After all, my team and I wouldn't be using names; therefore it widened the search parameters to anyone in the world. From there our group moved to the service lift, each of us gripping our handguns tightly. The lift started and Rin and Charbeck covered the left side of the doors while Davis and Erica took the right side. The ride passed without event and we quickly moved to one of our two rooms, I opened the door and Charbeck and Davis both entered, Charbeck in a crouch and Davis leveling his Berretta over Charbeck's shoulders.

"Clear!" whispered Davis as he holstered his Glock and turned towards me.

Everyone entered the room and looked around, the room was about the size of the living room of the house back on base. A couch sat in the center of the room with a coffee table in front of it, across the room was a small flat screen TV and a mini-fridge, to the left was a door that led, presumably, to a bathroom and a small desk.

"Five, get in contact with HQ, Four on my six." I said softly as I crossed to the closed door with my Five-SeveN drawn.

Davis took put a hand on the doorknob and looked back towards me, I nodded and mouthed 'Now.' He opened the door and stepped back as I sidestepped through the doorway and scanned the room, as expected it was just a restroom and nothing looked out of the ordinary.

Davis and I holstered our pistols and stepped back into the main room where I saw Erica toss Charbeck and May two bottles of water.

"You checked those, right?" I asked her as she pulled out a bottle for herself.

"You think I already forgot training, Lead?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just making sure. You and Two check the other room." I told her after she took a sip from the bottle.

"On it." Charbeck replied as he stood and moved for the door. I walked over to Rin and peered over her shoulder to check how the progress was going on the link to base.

"They've got a good firewall, it's keeping me from getting our signal out." She said shortly. I had forgotten that Rin hated people looking over her shoulder when she was dealing with technical matters.

"Can you get past it?" I asked.

"It's good, not perfect. It'll take a few minutes, but yeah, I can get around it."

"Let me know when you do."

"Yes sir."

I looked back at Dawn and the others as they stood about obviously tense and unsure about what to do.

"Sit down. Keep the masks on for now, Four, check the room for cameras."

"On it."

"Are you guys okay?" I asked Ash as I leaned against the wall.

"We're fine." He replied dryly.

"Good."

"Room's clear." Called Erica as she walked back into the room.

"Where's Two?" I asked.

"Standing guard." She replied.

"Alright, you two," I started and pointed towards Dawn and May, "are sharing a room with Three and Five. That cool with you?" I asked.

Both nodded.

"Lead, I got something you might want to see." Rin said as she gestured me over.

**And that's the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, there should only be about two or three more chapters, Review if you want. Later.**


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